Currently I drink 1-2 24 oz bottles of Pepsi (regular Pepsi - w/ caffeine and sugar) per day.

Most days it's one bottle. Occasionally two. And I don't slam it either, just a swallow here and a swallow there, throughout the day.

I am going through foreclosure right now and am very stressed out, anxious, struggling daily with paranoia, etc. and so I am really finding myself craving old crutches -- like sugar & simple carbs.

A friend made an astute observation the other day, "the Pepsi is your cigarettes."

Why yes, yes it is. Only I can still breathe.

I know the logical thing to do would be to kick the caffeine and sugar now, to decrease my stress load. The flip side of that though, is that I feel like I need a crutch of some type, a security blanket ... and the prospect removing that security blanket from my grasp is very upsetting. So I continue to try to soothe myself with it.

(For what it's worth, I also take probably 4 Excedrin a day, as I have persistent headaches these days too *sigh*, so cutting out the Pepsi will not get rid of the caffeine. Caffeine is a staple in my life -- I have taken Excedrin nearly daily for headaches, forever -- so the only net gain from cutting out Pepsi will be a lot less sugar.)

I can't imagine drinking coffee and energy drinks in my current state. I'm having a hard enough time as it is, juggling the caffeine input I've got now. LOL :)

:D Bailey

Dont drink coffee, gave up sodas. Stick to water mostly. I do drink Ice-Tea sometimes. I work nights alone and staying awake is a challenge.

I hope everyone stays away from those energy drinks, they are really bad for you!

A little bit of caffeine is ok for me, but I need to stay aware of how it is affecting me. Some caffeine is good in the mornings (I'm not a morning person), but too much puts me on edge. I also get a mid-afternoon lull with too much caffeine in the morning. A cup of coffee can be too much at times so I'll drink caffeinated tea instead.

I love coffee. When I was having anxiety attacks left and right, I didn't do much caffeine, just at five in the morning when it's so hard to stay awake working the night shift. Usually it was in the form of a soda.

Now, I drink coffee all the time. I just had a cup not that long ago and it's almost....well, late. My hubs just bought an espresso machine and oh my, do I LOVE lattes. It's nice having a barista in the house! As for weaning myself, I doubt anytime soon. I love the taste of coffee. The additional "kick" is a nice side effect. Am I addicted? Absolutely. I have headaches if I don't have any caffeine for more than twenty four hours. But for right now, I'm content to have this addiction. I'm pretty sure I can kick it if I start having serious health complications from it.

It was when I was put in the hospital and caffeine was NOT available, that I discovered just exactly how much damage it was doing to me.

After the 3rd day of cold turkey withdrawal from caffeine I had the worst headache the world has ever seen and kept it for 5 days. The other folks at the hospital just laughed at me cuz I could not figure out why I had the H/A. They knew. They had been through it. With all the drugs being given to all of us, the interaction was just to difficult to deal with. None of us were suppose to have any caffeine. EVER!

I did really well for a long time, but must admit I missed it in the a.m. with my cigs. Well, I quit the cigs so I went to what is called "lite" coffee! only 1/2 the caffeine.

It is a proven fact that we should not be ingesting caffeine. It really plays hell with not only our meds but our systems and our nerves and causes all sorts of side affects we don't need to deal with.

There, my 2 cents is in. But I still do enjoy my 2 mugs of Maxwell House Lite every morning

Think i abuse caffeine.
I can easily go up to several energy drinks a day as standard,
and normally start with a really strong coffee in the morning
My friends always comment on how much i have
But i use it almost as a form of support - like to get me through the day

I was a daily coffee/latte/espresso drinker. I love espresso but we just had coffee at home. I really don't like coffee daily, it gets nasty tasting fast. Recently, about 3 months ago, I just started having teas and haven't had coffee more than twice since. Not coincidentally, my breasts don't hurt before my period anymore, which was a major problem for me. A regular black tea has 1/3 the caffeine coffee does (well, I drink mine pretty super strong for taste so I am not so sure about that) and green teas have even less. I have greens in the afternoon. I have also started sipping yerba mate, and that tastes pretty good!

It hurts me. Until my doctor said no more did I see it kicked me in the teethe. Go a few weeks without and then go back, ouch... It is nasty, way worse than booze or smokes for me. I have quit smoking and rarely drink too.

Interesting thread! I have never been a coffe drinker, but soda, I drink all the time. About 5 or 6 months ago it was all I drank, Mountain Dew, Pepsi mostly. I drank a bunch of energy drinks as well, mostly Red Bull. Then I started to back off it, take a break, try something else like water, gatorade, milk, stuff like that. But I've slowly worked my way back into loads and loads of caffiene. I know it's not a healthy choice, but, heck, I'm hooked. Regardless, I'm still trying to taper it off and try to do something to be healthier. As I think what you eat, and drink I suppose affects health, physical and mental.

Wow I will feel as the odd one out here. I drink about a six pack of diet coke in the morning with about 3-4 little cigars (pipe tobacco). I can easily go thru a 12 pk a day and about 10 cigars here lately with the death of my husband two weeks ago.

All I can say is that I am glad that it is diet coke and not beer......I have been there.

I am sure when things start settling down a little with probate and getting the freeloaders out of my life that my consumption will decrease. I still try to drink at least 32 oz of water a day....but I would rather have a diet coke especially when I am sitting around the house.....Outside I am mostly on water and gatorade.
Staying off the booze..